Madonna - Music (DVD Single)

You're over 40 years old, you've had numerous hits under your garter and you need to do something different to keep ahead of the game. What's left for Madonna, once Queen of Pop, to do? Release the worlds first DVD single ofcourse, "Music".

What is a dvd single you ask? Simple, it's a dvd with a single on it, much like purchasing a CD single although this time you're getting footage aswell, the music video actually.

But why you ask? Well, I really don't know because if all you've got on the dvd, that theoretically can hold hours of footage, is a 4 minute single and another slightly longer, about 14 seconds, single then you're pretty much doing the opposite of what the dvd format was invented for.

More about that later. As for the single itself, we see an aging Madonna in a more sedate role to what we are used to. Most of the action takes place in the back of a Limousine driven by Ali G, who reminds me of Super Greg, and then in a strip club with some interesting angles of barely clad women to say the least.

It's not one of her better clips but it's not as bad as some others in her catalog.

For a music single, the only reference I would really compare it to is the free-to-air music shows such as rage or Video Hits and to that end the presentation is excellent. As a dvd and from the experience I've had with other big budget hollywood transfers, it stands proud but falls just short of being great.

The clip is presented in various aspect ratios with the main one being a full-frame 1.33:1. All ratios are non-anamorphic. This is not a PAN-AND-SCAN transfer for all you sticklers out there.

Color is vibrant and nicely saturated, the image is very clean and sharp throughout and the black levels are spot on producing are very good image.

Don't expect a 5.1 soundtrack here because this is a music video, not Independence Day 2. Warner Vision have done the right thing and given us the uncompressed Linear PCM stereo soundtrack that is rich in it's entire audible range.

Dialogue and all musical elements are crystal clear and loud so be prepared to turn your amp volume down as PCM stereo seems to have a much stronger presence than it's dolby digital counterparts. This could be my amp but I've noticed this on laserdiscs aswell.

One aspect of the audio that really hits you, literally, is the bass. The little sub on the DAV-S300 kicks in hard, alot harder than some of the recent soundtracks I've heard. We are talking real deep here which will please alot of you bass junkies out there. I had to tone down the volume at this point incase I rattled the apartments foundations.

There's no need to setup any surround DSP modes as they ruin the enjoyment of the music so leave you amp in stereo or direct-through mode for the optimum sound experience.

Like I said, with dvd being a format that can hold a multitude of possibilities, it is with regret that this disc suffers from a real lack of content. A web link to madonnas music webpage is all that is on offer plus an extended version of her single.

Usually, an extended 12" version goes for a good 3-4 minutes longer than normal, atleast that's what I'm used to. This extended mix is some 15 seconds longer. Maybe using branching would have saved even more space and made use of a feature that is becoming more common these days.

I have to cringe a little here. Being a dvd single and retailing for $19.95 is not going to do much for sales which is a sad thing to say about our beloved format. The disc is packaged in the usual superjewel case that warner vision use but I have a better idea to keep the costs down.

Package the dvd single like a normal cd single, in either a slimline jewel case of a plastic jacket. This will reduce both the cost of the packaging and the cost to package it and also make it actually look like a single rather than a dvd with the possibility of confusing the market into thinking they will be getting more for their money.

Hey, I don't work in their marketing department but maybe they're listening for any future dvd single releases.

The only real appeal this dvd has is as a collectors item for being the first dvd single. Apart from being a crazed Madonna fan, they're slowly disappearing these days, I can't see any other reason to make this a part of your collection for this price.